While CEOs in India may share some challenges with their global peers, they are focusing on a set of strategies to meet these challenges that reflect the uniqueness of the Indian economic environment, according to the 2013 edition of The Conference Board CEO Challenge®survey. CEOs in India rank Human Capital, Global Political/Economic Risk, Innovation, Operational Excellence, and Government Regulation as their top five challenges.

The consensus among Indian CEOs who responded to the 2013 survey is:

In a slow-growth environment, you have to compete harder and think more about wringing out new efficiencies. You also need to pay more attention to the fundamentals, from providing employee training and development to growing your workforce internally to incenting that workforce to be innovative to reducing baseline costs.

Building internal strength and creating value in a weakened business environment require a focus on your people, your suppliers, and your customers, as well as an enterprise-wide dedication to true excellence regardless of the task, the function, or the external challenge.